Shanghai Model United Nations XIX 2017 | Research Reports Forum: Human Rights Council Issue: The Human Rights Situation in the Philippines Student Officer: Annie Xie Position: President of the Human Rights Council Introduction On June 30th, 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines commenced a war on drugs. This was due to concern regarding the statistics of the Philippines’ drug problem. The Philippine Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) estimated that there was a total of 1.8 million drug users in the Philippines in 2015. In 2005, the DDB reported that five million citizens, 6% of the population, used methamphetamine regularly–– making the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime announce that the Philippines had “the world’s highest methamphetamine prevalence rate” in that year. In 2008, the number was reported to be 1.9%, a much more promising figure. Despite the decrease in drug use in the Philippines over recent years, Duterte has only increased the intensity of the crackdown on drugs. Duterte has not only cited inflated numbers of drug addicts in the Philippines to exaggerate the severity of the issue–– 3 million in 2016 and 7 million in 2017–– but has also claimed that 75% of heinous crimes are committed by drug users, a statement that is not supported by any evidence, to gain mainstream support for his war on drugs. As reported by Rappler, is estimated that over 7,000 people were killed from 2016 to 2017 due to government-supported anti-drug operations. The Human Rights Watch (HRW), other organisations, and the Philippine media have discovered that police officers often kill unarmed suspects during the anti-drug raids and have even planted evidence on the victims’ dead bodies to justify their killings. Beside the police force working to execute suspected drug users, Duterte has also encouraged citizens to take matters into their own hands and kill addicts themselves. Most disturbing is how the Philippine National Police (PNP) has implemented a new strategy where anonymous informants can put names of “drug users” into public drop-boxes, allowing personal vendettas to take priority over actual drug crimes. Naturally, Duterte’s violent war on drugs has destabilised parts of the Philippines. Many innocent lives have been lost due to the unjust persecution of drug users, and many more live in constant terror of being killed. Despite condemnation from numerous nations, organisations, and political figures, Duterte plans on continuing the horrific war on drugs until 2022 when his presidency ends. The Human Rights Council, then, must devise a resolution to protect the lives of millions of innocent civilians and restore balance to the Philippines. Definition of Key Terms Anti-Torture Act Research Report Topic| Page 1 of 11 Shanghai Model United Nations XIX 2017 | Research Reports The Anti-Torture Act of 2009, also the Republic Act 9745, criminalises physical and mental torture and other degrading treatment by persons in authority as well as secret prisons and solitary confinement in detention places, even during times of war or political instability. It was signed into law by former President Arroyo. According to NGOs and press reports, the Anti-Torture Act, which is compliant with the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, was repeatedly violated during anti-drug operations. Local media published photographs of hundreds of prisoners sitting naked while being searched at the Cebu provincial jail. In a predawn operation dubbed “Operation Greyhound,” prisoners were forced to remove their clothes while officials searched their jail cells. Human Rights Watch has expressed concern that the search, conducted in the open and publicized, was inhumane and violated the prisoners’ right to privacy. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) The military forces of the Philippines. It consists of the Army, Navy and the Air Force. President Rodrigo Duterte is the Commander-in-Chief. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention Arbitrary Arrest or Detention is the arrest or detention of an individual where there is no likelihood or evidence that they committed a crime against legal statute, or in which there has been no proper due process of law or order. The Philippine constitution prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention and claims that citizens have the right to challenge the lawfulness of their arrest or detention in court. The government generally observed these requirements. As of July, the Office of the Ombudsman, an independent agency responsible for investigating and prosecuting charges of public abuse and impropriety, reported 75 arbitrary detention violations committed by law enforcement agencies or the AFP. Investigations into 74 of these cases were pending, while the remaining case was dismissed. Extra-Judicial Killings (EJK) An extra-judicial killing is the killing of a person by governmental authorities without undergoing the any judicial proceeding or legal process. Amnesty International, a non-governmental organisation focused on human rights, has accused the Philippine police of "systematically planning" extrajudicial killings in the war on drugs. Page 2 of 11 | Research Report Topic Shanghai Model United Nations XIX 2017 | Research Reports Human Rights Watch (HRW) Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. On their website, hrw.org, they claim that “President Rodrigo Duterte has plunged the Philippines into its worst human rights crisis since the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos in the 1970s and 1980s.” The HRW is regularly updated with investigations on the human rights situation in the Philippines from local sources and their own investigation team. Philippine National Police (PNP) The Philippine National Police is the armed, civilian national police force in the Philippines. Compared to the military, the police has its own structure of authority and accountability. Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Duterte assumed the presidency on June 30, 2016, after a long tenure serving as Mayor of Davao City, a district in the Philippines with the highest murder rate, second highest rape rate, and fourth highest number of index crimes in the country. Duterte won with the promise of killing drug users. He said in April before he was elected, “All of you who are into drugs… I will really kill you.” Prior to assuming office, Duterte was criticized by the HRW for allowing a vigilante group named the Davao Death Squad, which he has been reported to have ties to, to commit extrajudicial killings of hundreds of street children, petty criminals, and drug users. In December, Duterte admitted to killing drug users during his time as mayor of Davao. As President, Duterte has urged its citizens to take matters into their own hands and kill suspected criminals and drug addicts, ordered the police to adopt a shoot-to-kill policy. Background Information Humanitarian crisis The Philippine’s war on drugs has resulted in countless unnecessary deaths and continues to violate civilian’s human rights. In February of 2018, Antonio Trillanes, an opposition senator of the war on drugs, showed that the Duterte administration has reported the deaths of 3,967 “drug personalities” between July 2016 and November 2017. However, 16,355 homicide cases from the same time period have been classified as “under investigation”. The PNP has claimed that these deaths have resulted from self-defence or if the suspect was “fighting back,” but reports have shown that local police have fabricated details from anti-drug raids to justify their killings. Research Report Topic| Page 3 of 11 Shanghai Model United Nations XIX 2017 | Research Reports According to Amnesty International, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) focused on human rights, PNP members and unarmed persons carried out 7,025 drug-related killings in total from July 2016 to January 2017. Many of these killings occurred without victims fighting back, as numerous witnesses have provided contradicting accounts to the NGO, claiming that the police regularly shoot at and kill suspects without reason. Amnesty International has also accused the PNP of “systematically planning” EJKs. These occurrences, EJKs, are considered by the UN to be a violation of human rights as it results in the deaths of people who have not yet been proved guilty of their suspected crimes. Additionally, a report by Aljazeera showed that the PNP has also killed numerous teenagers and children as part of the war on drugs. Duterte referred to them as “collateral damage”. The lack of compassion and remorse expressed by the administration is worrying, but not far from the narrative of the war on drugs. Bodies are also dumped into rivers or left in back alleys and street corners, usually wrapped in packing tape. Victims are found with multiple stab wounds or bullet holes in their bodies. The gruesome treatment of suspected drug personalities works as a form of intimidation to not only warn others against drugs, but also to assert Duterte’s ruthless persecution of drug users and dealers. Governmental transparency The war on drugs has also compromised the transparency of the Philippines’ government. In October 2017, a 17-year-old boy named Kian Loyd delos Santos was killed by the PNP. Due to mass protests, police anti-drug operations were suspended from October until January of 2018. Yet, in February of 2018, the PNP admitted to killing 46 suspected “drug personalities” between December and February. Currently, there is no accountability for those involved in the war on drugs. The HRW has pointed out that masked vigilantes often carry out killings of suspected drug personalities, yet these executions are not kept in police records. They have also discovered that suspects who were reported alive under police custody would be found dead later, and even more shockingly, would be filed as “found bodies” or “deaths under investigation” by the police. Because of the unreliable reports provided by the Philippine government, the concrete number of drug-related killings cannot be reached.